Carolina2Cali

Hi all, couldn't find a dedicated GOL thread, am I wrong?

Heading down to Brazil next week on an EPIC fare someone posted in the deals/mileage run 9 months ago... wondering two things as I will want to fly within Brazil a bit...

Is it safe to make a brand new booking between Brazilian cities on GOL given they went bankrupt 5 days ago?
Are there any legitimate lounge or baggage benefits when flying on GOL if an AA Exec Platinum? I may also fly to Argentina.

American's website only lists these 5 benefits, wonder if I am going to get charged an arm and a leg for a carry on plus a 50 lb bag or if I should just fly whichever airline is cheapest rather than being OneWorld loyal per se... somewhat anyways.

Priority check-in and boarding*
Priority baggage handling
Complimentary seat selection^
Complimentary GOL+ Conforto Seats**^
Status mileage bonus

As someone who hasn't been to Brazil since 2016... Obrigado!

Brandinho1

Recently took a GOL flight using AA Miles and those benefits AA lists are correct. I was flying in GOL Premium Economy so I did have access to the GOL lounge at GRU

Blackheath

On booking new flights with Gol: I've just booked two flights with them for late 2024. Operationally, they are fine as usual (I fly them a lot, along with Latam and Azul). Financially, it seems that Chapter 11 started well (Gol got an initial favorable decision), so I would say they are better now financially than they were a few months ago...

I am very comfortable making new bookings with them, but that's one's personal level of comfort. Anyway, if things go very bad, you can reverse the transaction with your credit card.

Enjoy your time in Brazil!

SCS

GOL benefits for AA status members are applied inconsistently and seem to be trending worse over time. There are earlier reports on FT of people getting free checked bag (even though that wasn't an officially documented benefit), but that was not true in my experience in October 2023 at GIG. You also should not expect lounge access, at least when flying domestically. One of the documented benefits is free Conforto+ seats, but it isn't possible to select them online, and today when I called, the rep told me my fare class doesn't give me access to those seats. (This is a domestic flight booked as AA award.) I insisted, and after consulting a supervisor, he relented. Overall, I'm very underwhelmed by the GOL partnership.

Zacnlinc

In Rio now and trying to navigate this GOL website is annoying!

It will not accept the letters in my AA#. So I’m paying for baggage and seats just to get the experience over and done.

Will wait until Monday when at airport to get refunds issued.

Carolina2Cali

So I did end up booking a miles flight from Sao Paulo to Rio and I did get my comfort seat and a free bag... but if I tried to do two free bags it would make pay online for EACH of them until I cleared and reset. Bizarre. Was nervous I'd have to pay at the airport but all went well.

That... sucks. It's not like they use different characters than we do, maybe some extra funky symbols on some letters. I did fly GOL without issue but to be fair, I booked it with AA using miles and then did my seats on GOL. If there's a way to turn on a VPN to at least get the GOL website to think you're in the USA, maybe that will help? Anyways, sounds like whats done is done.

SCS

So you were able to select free comfort seat and bag on the website? Was this at check-in or earlier? My flight is not for a few weeks, but when I tried to select a seat, it was showing 14 USD charge for comfort seat. I’m only Plat, but based on the published benefits, I don’t think there should be a difference between Plat and Exec Plat.

SCS

Please report back after your trip. When I was at GIG in October (for a domestic flight booked as AA award), they refused to give me free bag even though I pressed for it. So am curious to know if your experience is different.

Carolina2Cali

This was before the flight, at least a few days. HOWEVER, I made a new booking last night (this one is slightly international as opposed to fully domestic) and they do want like 13 bucks to pick the seat! It does still claim the free baggage though... but only to be determined once I arrive at the airport if that's true. Seems wildly inconsistent.

SCS

Just ridiculous. Meanwhile, today when I checked my booking on the website, there was no seat assignment displayed, despite the phone rep telling me on Tuesday he had assigned me the (comfort) seat. I called back to have the seat assigned again, and that worked (website showing it confirmed). While I was on the line, I asked about free checked bag, and he told me he does not have information about that and that I should ask AA. Amateur hour. The website is not offering me free bag. The baggage ambiguity is particularly annoying because if you wait to resolve it at the airport and they deny the free bag, as happened to me at GIG, you get charged the more expensive airport rate instead of the cheaper online rate. I argued that I should be at least be offered the online rate, but they said the system wasn’t configured to make that possible.

Carolina2Cali

Completely concur, but also, Brazil. LOL. They don't even translate the McDonalds ordering kiosks into Spanish/English at many of the locations, something that would be pretty cheap and basic AND done in other McDonalds in the same country.

fliesdelta

Why would a Brazilian McDonald's have menus in Spanish?

Carolina2Cali

Because every country that surrounds them speak it? When you go to Europe on the kiosks you can select several languages. In some of the Brazil ones you can at least select English / Spanish. I bet you in Argentina they even translate to Italian.

malagajohn

even though there are many people of Italian descent in Argentina, you will nver hear any Argentine speaking Italian - sorry but no menu in McDonalds in Italian

Zacnlinc

Update regarding my account at GOL check in:

Got the runaround and still haven’t received a refund for seats purchased just yet.

Tried premium checkin and the agent turned me away even after seeing my AA status. Counter agent overheard things and intervened. Granted me passage. Allowed to check in. But she had to turn me away to get my credit card and passport verification done.

Went to customer service and they vetoed everything after a couple calls made by the agent. Counter agent entered my AA number and offered free baggage service. Told I’d have to go back to customer care or at the gate to ask for refund.

went to gate and club and told to get it down when I get to Recife. Upon arriving at REC, no chance of seeing gate agent or customer service. Had to exit airport. Will have to try again on Friday to resolve this as I head to GRU next. Good grief!

BTW, here in Porto de Galinhas, English isn’t easy to navigate here. But I fit in with the Argentinians. We’re speaking Spanish and everything is fine thus far! lol